Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. There ARE happy people out there, all around the world! … One of the happiest videos that you may ever view. a great production! Turn the sound on: https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pwe-pA6TaZk?rel=0 If Rotary International (www.Rotary.org) had a “dance,” this might be it! from Brother David Steindl-Rast: “In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” For fun, for the joy of it, watch animals enjoying a trampoline: https://biggeekdad.com/2016/11/buster-the-boxer/

“Feelings come & go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” Thich Nhat Hanh ‘All the ups & downs are grace in different wrappings, sent to refine consciousness. Say “thanks” to them all.’ Mooji “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement…get up in the morning & look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” Abraham Joshua Heschel Life loves to be taken by the lapel & told, “I am with you kid. Let’s go.” Maya Angelou Always keep in mind, that no matter what has happened, you did the very best you could. And so did those who may have let you down. 11-21-’16: … today is part of your victory lap … 11-22-’16: we grow past karma & learn to choose unconditional love & acceptance for ourselves & others … Know everyone by their good traits. Great Love, The Universe: www.TUT.com

Once you realize that the road is the goal & that you are always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty & its wisdom, life ceases to be a task & becomes natural & simple, in itself an ecstasy. – Nisargadatta MaharajWhat you are looking for is who is looking. St. Francis of Assisi from from http://www.LivingCompassion.com “It takes courage to grow up & turn out to be who you really are.” e.e. cummings

[1] Emily Dickinson: Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough: www.rense.com/general96/shots.html & https://www.youtube.com/embed/2a1QISYNGHs?rel=0; https://www.youtube.com/embed/uaWA2GbcnJU & https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hodomt6bBOw & ABBA’s Take A Chance On Me (SPCA Pet Adoption Video). Cheer on the maiden flights — sort of — of brave Mandarin ducklings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W06Ph9wBTMM&feature=y After watching this, go adopt a needy animal, & you’ll have a friend for life! Watch amazing dogs at joyful play, intense work & doing amazing feats: www.youtube.com/watch?v=de3uzRiABNU&feature=player_embedded You’ll be glad you did: http://youtu.be/mpoiSD-bjP0; & benefit from the “mental floss” medical benefits of a cat’s purr: http://mentalfloss.com/article/63725/healing-power-cat-purr; admire honey badgers’ ingenuity: www.youtube.com/embed/c36UNSoJenI?rel=0& accept Life’s invitation via Sufi poet Rumi: “Come, come, whoever you are. Wonderer, Worshiper, Lover of Leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times. Come, yet again, come, come.” And a reminder about Life’s beauty “within us:” https://www.youtube.com/embed/J8Ioa1gVVeA?showinfo=0&rel=0 And the inspiration of TED / Technology Engineering Design talks: http://www.TED.com & one breath-taking example of a TED talk (copy & paste the link into your browser): http://www.youtube.com/embed/FiZqn6fV-4Y; & enjoying every moment — especially our work: “Give us, O give us, the man who sings at his work! Be his occupation what it may, he is equal to any of those who follow the same pursuit in silent sullenness. He will do more in the same time — he will do it better, he will persevere longer. One is scarcely sensible of fatigue whilst he marches to music.” – Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish Writer.

[2] John Muir: When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped & dotted with continents & islands, flying through spacewith other stars all singing & shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty. What a wonderful world: www.youtube.com/embed/auSo1MyWf8g?rel=0 & by Wendy Francisco: “God & Dog:” god_n_dog.wmv; & the elephant families that regularly walk through a hotel lobby: https://www.youtube.com/embed/NdTII_unZSA And paradigm-breaking remarks from Alan Watts: “You are that vast thing that you see far, far off with great telescopes” & from TheUniverse@TUT.com: “…let’s pretend, just for today, all day long, throughout our every thought & decision, that life is easy, that everyone means well, & that time is on our side. Okay? And let’s pretend that we are loved beyond belief, that magic conspires on our behalf, & that nothing can ever hurt uswithout our consent. All right?
And if we like this game, we’ll play tomorrow as well, & the next day, & the next, & pretty soon, it won’t be a game at all, because life, for us, will become those things. Just as it’s become what it is today.

[4] good triumphs whenever we make our own, freely chosen decision for “good,”“kindness,” “generosity,” “unconditional loving kindness” & self-emancipating “forgiveness:” http://m.vod.io/OF94_/ inspiring, emotional & spiritual journey of a grieving mother whose young, innocent daughter was murdered. … What makes a life event either easy or hard? Perhaps a better question would be what makes a life event something we suffer over or practice through? The answer: Our relationship with ourselves & with Life. If we know, not intellectually but in our deepest being, that Life is living us perfectly, that what happens is never a reward or a punishment, that every situation is our very best opportunity to choose unconditional love, to awaken & end suffering, nothing is ever a problem. – Cheri Huber from PEACE Quotes are offered by Living Compassion transforming lives, ending sufferinghttp://www.LivingCompassion.org

[5] WOLF PACKCesare Brai’s photo of a wolf pack on the move

the first 3 are the old or sick, they give the direction & pace to the entire pack. If it were the other way round, the old or sick would be left behind, losing contact with the pack. In case of an ambush, they would be sacrificed;

then come 5 strong ones, the front line;

In the center are the rest of the pack members;

then the 5 strongest following.

Last is alone, the Alpha.

The Alpha controls everything from the rear. In that position the Alpha can see everything, decide the direction. The Alpha sees all of the pack. The pack moves according to the elders’ pace & help each other, watch each other. Wolves put the elders of the pack FIRST!

[11] We need a renaissance of wonder. We need to renew, in our hearts & in our souls, the deathless dream, the eternal poetry, the perennial sense that life is miracle & magic. E. Merrill Root (1895-1973) American Writer

[13] six minutes of the joy, tenderness & wonder of baby animals: www.wimp.com/sixminutes/ & four minutes of cats training their human parents to pet them (copy & paste the address into your Web browser): http://blog.theanimalrescuesite.com/cats-say-pet-me-meow/?ORIGIN=FK_Trivia-6-05-2014&utm_source=fk&utm_medium=C4M&utm_campaign=pet-me-meow/; or listen to the #1 song on the day of your birth: http://playback.fm/birthday-song

[15] throughSherril.Skibell@TTU.eduat Dr. Margaret “Peggy” Sheffield Lutherer’s memorial service & read by Alice at memorial service of Dr. John Aure Buesseler at the 46-yr.-old CEO Roundtable: “Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, & you are you, & the old life that we loved so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity of sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life is absolute & unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well.”

[16] How long might you live? www.LifeSpanCalc.com … however long we live, may we ever heed poet Emily dickinson’s alert: EDEN is that old-fashioned House We dwell in every day, Without suspecting our abode Until we drive away. How fair, on looking back, the Day We sauntered from the door, Unconscious our returning Discover it no more.

& a classic-cars museum that Wichita East, ’64, classmate Walt Ramsden said would be heaven for him: https://www.youtube.com/embed/WbN_BAn55a4 & from another Wichita, KS, East High, ’64, classmate Julie Shottenkirk Beste: a happy video of folks worldwide dancing for joy: https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pwe-pA6TaZk?rel=0

And speaking of “choices,” my life-transforming book recommendation is “Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation & theNo Kill Revolution in America” by Nathan J. Winograd, 2007; ISBN 13:978-0-9790743-1-8. Also,www.TheNoKillNation.org& Make No Kill a reality in your community: http://bit.ly/acuTp7 Take the Audio/Visual tour: http://bit.ly/LhMakpNo Kill 101: Prepare: http://bit.ly/sVSA02Educate: http://bit.ly/H8hfc1Fight: http://bit.ly/vbeJ22Win: http://bit.ly/gujLGB The methods above have been proven to save lives. If you have access to the shelter/animal control employees, their email addresses, etc at these facilities, please share this information with them too, so they learn more about all of these life saving methods too. www.JustOneDay.ws/For Just One Day, “Euthanasia Technicians” will put down their syringes & pick up cameras. Instead of injecting animals with lethal doses of sodium pentobarbital, they will photograph them & post them on the Internet, on Facebook, on twitter. In 2013, they marketed their animals to the public, they reached out to rescue groups, they hosted adoption events with discounted rates, they stayed open for extended hours, & they asked their communities to help them empty the shelter the good way. Instead of going into body bags in freezers, the animals went out the front door in the loving arms of families. At the end of the day, the shelters were emptier than when the day started. And, no one had to die in order to make that happen. The No Kill Advocacy Center, Animal Ark & Animal Wise Radio teamed up to offer shelters the tools they need to be successful; & www.DogsForLife.org & http://bit.ly/PtOEfp; & learn how Fix Austintransformed their city from a high-kill methodology to one that embraced the No Kill Equation, & learn what you can do in your community to achieve similar results (if your animal-control personnel aren’t interested in saving animals’ lives): http://vimeo.com/17082669 “No Kill nation is inevitable.” … “No Kill nation we can immediately achieve.” … “No Kill is the only legitimate standard for animal sheltering.”

Thank you, All, for helping precious animals – by doing your part every day (e.g., by e-forwarding pet messages, adopting, fostering, rescuing, sheltering, advocating, transporting, providing pet-wellness & veterinary services, donating, volunteering with Trap/Neuter/Release of feral cats & caring) – that will help get us quickly to a No Kill Nation. related information: Creative way to encourage pet adoptions: www.RSPCA.org.UK/media/news/story/-/article/EM_Cats_rehomed_thanks_to_Christmas_carol_video_Jan12(& then scroll downward to click the arrow in the middle of the page to start the video).] Also, from another source: there are approximately 45 cats & dogs for every person born. Only 1 out of 10 dogs born ever get a home. Only 1 out of 12 cats born ever find a home. Approximately 800 dogs & cats are KILLED each HOUR in the United States, because there are not enough homes for them! Please SPAY & NEUTER! If looking for a pet, please rescue instead of buying from a breeder or a pet store. Free online, award-winning documentary on the homeless pet crisis in our city & our country: www.OHTH.org (including pet-care films in English & Spanish).

While you are providing your service to people & places wherever you work, worship, volunteer, learn, play &/or thrive, please remember to

2. When you are in doubt, be still, and wait; When doubt no longer exists for you then go forward with courage. So long as mists envelop you, be still; Be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists -as it surely will. Then act with courage. – Chief White Eagle (from PEACE Quotes offered by Living Compassion: transforming lives, ending suffering at www.LivingCompassion.org) & by a encyclopedia of inspirational thoughts at http://www.AttitudeMedia.com/positive-quotes-search/

Post your events at www.TexasPlainsTrail.com (Things to Do; Calendar; Submit an Event). And refer friends, families & neighbors towww.211Texas.org(& select “Search for Services” in the middle of the page & then fill in two blanks about your needs & your location … & voila! — a list of places/organizations that have what you need. Or call 2-1-1 for referrals to resources you need. 2-1-1 helps first-generation families succeed in college through childcare, transportation, food, housing, domestic-violence prevention & more referrals. Financial aid for college? In Texas: 1-888-311-8881 (easy-to-remember phone number: almost identical forwards & backwards). www.LapTop.orgOne laptop per child: give a laptop. Change the world.www.BoostUp.orgDo your good deed for the day in 15 seconds: e-encourage a high school student to stay in school. Everyday nearly 7,000 students drop out of high school: help make it 6,999 by your e-boost of encouragement. Reasons to boost: a high school diploma looks good on any wall; compared to non-graduates of high school: high school graduates are less likely to live in poverty or to be onpublic assistance; 7 times more likely to own a home; are in better health; 8 times less likely to go to jail. E-boosting is good karma: you’ve probably done something bad that you need to make up for, plus: the children ARE our future.

3. Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” — William Bruce Cameron More Positive Content at www.JohnfGroom.com

P.S. #1: I would be sorry to see you go if you asked me to un-subscribe you. But if you do ask to un-subscribe, the fastest & surest way to get unsubscribed is to[a] e-Reply to my e-message & include the number(s), word(s) or letter(s) that appear at the front of the “Subject” line. With 330+ e-lists & 10 spreadsheets with 12,000+ e-addresses, I can locate & delete your e-address most quickly & accurately if you will e-tell me your e-list number(s), word(s) or letter(s).or[b] tell me which town, state & country you live in.

P.S. #2: My goal is provide you with hopeful, helpful, accurate & timely resources. Please join me in constantly double-checking accuracy & helping me correct inaccuracies: www.Snopes.com/inboxer; also: www.FBI.Gov/Scams-Safety/e-scams When you’re doubtful about an e-message (e.g., “from Google team;” “trip to London: I had my bag stolen … send me money;” or “I’m a missionary in Africa. Adopt my dog & pay only the shipping charges.”)snopes.com: Cell phone112 Emergency •• Will dialing 112 connect you with an emergency call center when your cell phone has no signal? …Claim: Even when your cell phone signal is blocked, dialing 112 will connect you with an emergency call center. Example: [Collected on the Internet … your mobile phone has no signal (so even if you were in a tunnel) if you dial 112 it diverts to a satellite signal and puts you through to the 999 call … The global mobile emergency number, 112, is “special” in the sense that (unlike other local emergency numbers, such as 999) it will use any tower ….* Adaptation of Robert Burns’ Auld Lang Syne, written & sung by Charles Osgood on “CBS Sunday Morning,” Jan. 3, 2010: And now we’re in a different year We’ve only just begun A hundred fifty billion miles As we loop around the sun. We ended one trip Thursday night And here we go again It’s quite a flight, so hang on tight In the year two thousand ten! Two thousand nine is Auld Lang Syne It’s part of times gone by Two thousand ten is here & now As through each day we fly. Yes, time does fly And years go by And what will happen then? We cannot say But we’re on our way In the year two thousand ten! More nostalgia: Enjoy video with music from the 1950s & 1960s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDc0ID6PJeg&feature=youtu.be & admire breath-taking photos from my home state of Kansas: http://vimeo.com/73014200From HeresAThought@Ragan.com: Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special. Brian Dyson Also, more inspiration atwww.EFTUniverse.comthanks towww.SharonOSmith.com &www.InnerHealing.comIn 1955, my self-chosen American Indian name in Camp Fire Girls was “Ta Wa Ca, “that means “Happy Flower.” To happily e-create your own field of flowers, please click (or drag your mouse over the page)www.ProCreo.JP/labo/flower_garden.swfView the US’ state flowers & wait to the end for the entire American bouquet:www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=1221321706636&source=jl999

P.S. #3: Bottom line: Sixty years ago I knew everything; now I know nothing; education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. Will Durant, Historian

P.S. #4: Given that my PhD degree is in journalism: www.Newseum.org/TodaysFrontPages/flash/ Put your mouse on a city anywhere in the world to read newspaper headlines. Double click & the page gets larger. You can read the entire paper on some — if you click on the right place. The site changes every day with the publication of new editions of the paper. To read other nations’ newspapers, click the country/nation choice(s) above the map.

P.S. #5: a lively role model for us Baby Boomers … Two Classics, One Car, 2:49-min. vignette about a 101-yr.-youngwoman in Plymouth, MI, who changes the oil & spark plugs of her 81-yr.-old Packard car: www.YouTube.com/watch?v=CHwwwJ83oWo The car’s bumper sticker announces that “Old age & treachery will overcome youth & skill.”

P.S. #6: www.mnh.si.edu/vtp/1-desktop/ An incredible 360-degree tour of the Smithsonian Museum room by room . 360-degree viewing by using your cursor. You easily spend days/weeks looking at everything. Just marvelous for kids &d adults. Follow the blue arrows on the floor to move into new rooms. Shows inside & outside of the museum, & there little cameras here & there which show detailed info on certain things. If you click on the floors (upper-right corner), you get a floor plan of that floor, & you can click on a blue circle to go directly to that room. Truly incredible web site. Watch it in full screen when you open this up. Use the roller on your mouse to move in & out. Look for the “arrows” on the floor & click on them. They take you to other places. http://carolynmappleton.wordpress.com/www.FaceBook.com/Alice.V.White.1&/orhttp://www.FaceBook.com/Alice.White.1829

A Medal of Honor Dog Hugs a Baby What a great story, read it all the way to the end. I thought you might like to know about this dog and his history. The ending is quite amazing after you read the beginning….. The K9 above is Brutus, a military K9 at McChord… He’s huge – part Boxer and part British Bull Mastiff and tops the scales at 200 lbs. His handler took the picture. Brutus is running toward me because he knows I have some Milkbone treats, so he’s slobbering away! I had to duck around a tree just before he got to me in case he couldn’t stop, but he did. Brutus was the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor last year from his tour in Iraq. His handler and four other soldiers were taken hostage by insurgents. Brutus and his handler communicate by sign language and he gave Brutus the signal that meant ‘go away, but come back and find me’.
The Iraqis paid no attention to Brutus. He came back later and quietly tore the throat out of one guard at one door and another guard at another door. He then jumped against one of the doors repeatedly (the guys were being held in an old warehouse) until it opened. He went in and untied his handler, and they all escaped. He’s the first K9 to receive this honor. If he knows you’re ok, he’s a big old lug and wants to sit in your lap. He enjoys the company of cats. K-9 Congressional Medal of Honor Winner: thought you’d find this interesting. Talk about animal intelligence and bonding with humans! Remember that they can’t do a lot of things for themselves and they depend on you to make their life a quality life! Instructions for properly hugging a baby (from a dog’s point of view):1. First, uh, find a baby.
2. Second, be sure that the object you found was indeed a baby, by employing classic sniffing techniques.
3. Next, you will need to flatten the baby before actually beginning the hugging process.

5. Finally, if a camera is present, you will need to execute the difficult – patented ‘hug, smile, and lean’ so as to achieve the best photo quality.

* He never came to me when I would call Unless I had a tennis ball, Or he felt like it, But mostly he didn’t come at all. When he was young He never learned to heel Or sit or stay, He did things his way. Discipline was not his bag But when you were with him things sure didn’t drag. He’d dig up a rosebush just to spite me, And when I’d grab him, he’d turn and bite me. He bit lots of folks from day to day, The delivery boy was his favorite prey. The gas man wouldn’t read our meter, He said we owned a real man-eater. He set the house on fire But the story’s long to tell. Suffice it to say that he survived And the house survived as well. On the evening walks, and Gloria took him, He was always first out the door. The Old One and I brought up the rear Because our bones were sore. He would charge up the street with Mom hanging on, What a beautiful pair they were! And if it was still light and the tourists were out, They created a bit of a stir. But every once in a while, he would stop in his tracks And with a frown on his face look around. It was just to make sure that the Old One was there And would follow him where he was bound. We are early-to-bedders at our house — I guess I’m the first to retire. And as I’d leave the room he’d look at me And get up from his place by the fire. He knew where the tennis balls were upstairs, And I’d give him one for a while. He would push it under the bed with his nose And I’d fish it out with a smile. And before very long He’d tire of the ball And be asleep in his corner In no time at all. And there were nights when I’d feel him Climb upon our bed And lie between us, And I’d pat his head. And there were nights when I’d feel this stare And I’d wake up and he’d be sitting there And I reach out my hand and stroke his hair. And sometimes I’d feel him sigh and I think I know the reason why. He would wake up at night And he would have this fear Of the dark, of life, of lots of things, And he’d be glad to have me near. And now he’s dead. And there are nights when I think I feel him Climb upon our bed and lie between us, And I pat his head. And there are nights when I think I feel that stare And I reach out my hand to stroke his hair, But he’s not there. Oh, how I wish that wasn’t so, I’ll always love a dog named Beau.

“While shooting a movie in Arizona, Stewart received a phone call from Dr. Keagy, his veterinarian, who informed him that Beau was terminally ill, & that Gloria sought his permission to perform euthanasia. Stewart declined to give a reply over the phone, & told Keagy to ‘keep him alive & I’ll be there.’ Stewart requested several days’ leave, which allowed him to spend some time with Beau before granting the doctor permission to euthanize the sick dog. Following the procedure, Stewart sat in his car for ten minutes to clear his eyes of tears. Stewart later remembered: ‘After [Beau] died there were a lot of nights when I was certain that I could feel him get into bed beside me, & I would reach out & pat his head. The feeling was so real that I wrote a poem about it & how much it hurt to realize that he wasn’t going to be there any more.’”